7 Reasons Why The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation is the Best Chinese Anime of 2018

Popularity-wise, Chinese animation is on fire recently as international anime viewers are getting enthralled by the allure presented by the cliche yet refreshing take of the Chinese anime industry to a very common anime plot.

Story-wise, they provided us with a generic plot which was dated back to the ancient times of Chinese literature. However, they also presented a stimulating take on that story and even show us some innovations which are only unique on their own. In a lighter side, they give us anime show with cliche story but highlighted in a different perspective.

Quality-wise, the majority of today’s Chinese anime were no different from those average, generic, and mediocre anime that is rampant in Japan. However, there are some independent variables that go beyond everyone’s expectations. In fact, Chinese anime had been on the rise due to the legacy and popularity by some of these excellent Chinese anime series such as The King’s Avatar, Qin’s Moon, Rakshasa Street, and this 2018; it’s the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation also known as Mo Dao Zu Shi or The Founder of Diabolism.

Mo Dao Zu Shi Key Art

With the success of its first season, fans are now captivated to see the continuation of the story and everyone had been hyped ever since the first full teaser for Mo Dao Zu Shi Season 2 had been unveiled last April. It’s slated to return in July although no official statement yet had confirmed that, fans were buzzed about it and they’re highly excited for July to arrive because not only the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation is airing but also the 2nd season of The King’s Avatar, and The Record of Unusual Creatures.

 

Back to our post’s title; what makes the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation the best Chinese anime of 2018 is very easy to answer. In fact, it could even compete with the title of anime of the year 2018 and give those anime giants from Japan a run of their money.

 

The anime gained immense attention to the hype of the novel readers. Though people might think that this is just another BL story, I am sorry to cut off the speculation but there are more than what meets the eye in here. Furthermore, the BL plot is quite unnoticeable in the current pacing of the story. Thus, it gives more room for the viewers to get enchanted by the anime’s breathtaking semi-realistic graphics and jaw-dropping astounding animation. In the end, as the first season of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation concluded on its 15th episode, we can simply state that the anime isn’t easy as it appears on the surface.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Thus, we have listed here some of the reasons why Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation is the best Chinese anime of 2018 and could be the dark-horse to take the anime of the year title for 2018.

Anyone who had seen the animation of Mo Dao Zu Shi could easily tell the difference in quality against the majority of Chinese anime out there. In fact, its animation quality is something that some of the animation studios from Japan should try to learn a lesson or two. At this point, it is safe to say that Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation sets a new standard of quality in the Chinese anime industry and hoping it will lead to a wide-scale revolution in the quality of Chinese animation.

Although the plot can be seen from other anime or literary pieces, the story of Mo Dao Zu Shi is currently one of the best XianXia stories from China. Viewers who enjoyed watching historical, and supernatural-exorcism anime will definitely fall in love with it. Plus, it goes beyond its normal genre. Drama, romance, comedy, action, fantasy, adventure, supernatural, historical? Most of those stuff were beautifully combined all together in this anime, thus such a masterpiece had been produced.

When talking about the quality of anime, among the most important factors were the graphics and the arts. In Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, everybody who’s not blind or doesn’t have eye problems could testify just how jaw-dropping and great the graphics and the arts are. At some points, the background actually looks too realistic and mesmerizing.

Aside from the high-quality animation, the anime also has a very graceful sequence of hand-drawn graphics and CG. The animation sequence was executed flawlessly. It could only be described as perfect, admirable, aesthetically breathtaking.

 

Having interesting characters that could entice the attention of the viewers is a necessity for an anime. And such is the case with Mo Dao Zu Shi, every character is an interesting piece of art on its own. The way they behave, it seems to follow an insurmountable pattern that was drawn by the gods making each of them unique and embodies a philosophy of their own. In layman’s terms, they are likable and mind-boggling that you as a viewer won’t let any second passed without knowing the development of the story of these characters.

The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation Four Main Characters

Character Bio: Wei Ying

Character Bio: Lan Zhan

Character Bio: Jiang Yan Li

Character Bio: Jiang Cheng

Yes, at the bottom line, this is a XianXia story where exorcism exists and battling against demons, and supernatural phenomena is like a child’s play and a common game. The action was solid giving domineering fight scenes that would leave someone speechless. Why speechless? It is because it feels like you’re not only watching epic fight scenes but witnessing a form of art that is unique only to this anime although it exists in the plot of other stories.

 

The sound may be its weakest point especially for anime viewers who get used to the Japanese language, listening to another language which is Chinese is quite difficult. In my personal experience, it is really hard to follow the English subtitles due to the fast-paced Chinese language. Nonetheless, it’s just a matter of time. Once you’ve get accustomed to it, it’ll be seriously easy. Yet, the music of this anime is in a different league of its own. I really love just how epic it sounds and the fact that it is staying so true to the Chinese music style. I felt like I am watching some scenes from those legendary literary works of some renowned classic Chinese author. In the end, I am personally attracted to the anime’s opening theme song “Drunken Dream of a Past Life” by famous Mandopop singer Terry Lin. A majestic and nostalgic song that invokes one’s heroism and seriously befitting the main character Wei Wuxian.

It was revealed that Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation is returning for its second season in 2019 and is one of our top recommended Chinese anime shows of 2019. However, it won’t be out until July next year. Thus, it might be quite a long period of time for us to wait. Then, I guess the best that we could do is to check the novel first and obviously follow Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s story which is no less good than the anime.

 

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation season 2 announcement

For this year, what else could be more astounding and fascinating than the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation to represent the Chinese anime industry in the international arena? The fact had been stated and although I am a big fan of The King’s Avatar, I believe that it’s just a matter of time until this epic Chinese anime will take the vanguard of Chinese animation’s future.

 

References:

• Guodong Subs
• MyAnimeList.net
• Bilibili
• YouTube